"How to Win a National Championship"
"The essence of the game of baseball is SELF-ESTEEM vs. FEAR."
Augie Garrido, head coach of 2005 Baseball National Champion Texas University
My pen was flying across my notebook last January when Garrido was spilling the beans on the secrets to his success to a couple thousand coaches at the American Baseball Coaches National Convention.
SELF-ESTEEM vs. FEAR.
That's what it all boils down to for Garrido. He's won national titles before and is one of the winningest coaches in Division I baseball history.
I first met Garrido when Ken Ravizza and I were writing Heads-Up Baseball back in '94 and I've admired him ever since. Extremely bright guy, deeply into the mental game.
Now here he was talking to the convention about “How to Win a National Championship” and he only addressed the two main elements: the mental game and recruiting!.
So, let's get Lesson One out of the way: Recruit great players.
I'll focus on what he spent virtually his entire hour on: the mental game.
"The essence of the game is self-esteem vs. fear because baseball is a game that brings out fears," he said.
So the goal of the coach is to build self-esteem and reduce fear.
How do you do that?
"Number 1 is your relationship with your players," he said.
Only when you have a trusting, respectful relationship will the players really buy in to what you are saying, and only then will they share information with you that you need to help them perform.
Next, "Remove all thoughts of winning the game - make sure it is not on your mind. Focus on the performance. On each pitch. On one pitch at a time.
Each player should have a pre-game and pre-pitch routine he follows, one that is
carefully developed based on some key fundamental principles.
This helps reduce fear because fear is about the future, about outcomes, about winning. "Your goal is to free them of pressure: eliminate expectations, support failures. “In fact, encourage failure."
Finally, his basic message to his players is: "Go out and play like you are 12 years old and know you are the baddest player in the state of Texas"
"Baddest" in this context of course means “best” (a wide range of aged people read my emails, so I thought I'd point that out...")
Why 12 years old? He didn't say. But I have a few ideas. Why do you think he said 12?
Ultimately he wanted his players freed up (no fear), focused, and trusting their talents. He had some more jewels on how to do this I may write about later, but I don't want to dilute his message on what I've already mentioned.
So whether you are a coach, a parent or a player, think in terms of "How can I build self-esteem and reduce fear?"
Go get'em.
Tom
Dr. Tom Hanson
p.s. Garrido's talk was virtually an infomercial for my free program “5 Steps to Unstoppable Confidence (Garrido’s players read my book, “Heads-Up Baseball”). The program teaches you how to do exactly what he says you need to do to be successful. Get it now at
http://www.FreeBaseballConfidence.com (and you'll be able to go out and play like the baddest player in your state!).
Tom Hanson, Ph.D.
Heads-Up Performance, Inc.
How Derek Jeter Beats Pressure
In 2001 I was working with the Yankees trying to help young players transition from the minors to the Big Leagues. I asked Derek Jeter, "How does a young guy coming into Yankee Stadium to play for the Yankees deal with the pressure?"
His answer dropped my jaw. Here's why.
A year prior I was watching a playoff game on TV from a couch in D.C., where the Yankees were down a run late in the game.
They had a man on second and Jeter came to the plate. He settled into his stance and started waving the bat around, much more than a major-league guy normally does.
"He looks like a Little Leaguer," I said to myself. But not just any Little Leaguer, a total stud Little Leaguer.
I’m sure you can picture the stud hitter that everyone knows can totally jack the ball. When he gets to the plate the defense swallows hard and takes a step back.
Confidence radiates off the kid. In the box he waves his bat around his head menacingly, telling the world he can’t wait to rip the next sacrificial offering. It looks like fun. Everyone wants to be that kid.
That's how Jeter looked on TV. Except he was now in the Big Leagues, playing in the playoffs!
The whole season was on the line. The crowd was going wild. The tension was thick in the playoff air. The emotion dripping off of each pitch.
And Jeter looked like a Little Leaguer having fun.
Flash forward to my interview with him ...
"Well," he says, "the big thing is to have fun. That's how you handle pressure."
"Come on," I said, "with tens of thousands of people yelling, your results posted in the paper every day, your every move watched and scrutinized, and you say have fun?"
"Yes. It's just like Little League,” Jeter said. “It's the same game I've always played and always loved. It's fun. Sure it's challenging, but that's part of the fun."
Me: "Even with 50,000 people yelling and screaming."
DJ: "The more people, the more fun."
Jeter is able to maintain the perspective that the game is fun. Most players I coach come to me when they've lost that. It's become work. A job. A test of self-esteem. A measure of self-worth. It's become who they are.
Stress occurs in us when we perceive a threat to us or to something we love. It may be a threat to our physical body, like falling off the back of a set of bleachers. Or it may be a threat to our emotional body, like getting yelled at by our coach.
Jeter avoids stress because he doesn't perceive game situations as threatening. He sees them as challenging.
One perception creates tension, fear, doubt, choking. The other creates freedom, relaxation, and top performance.
Why do you play or coach? There are lots of other things you could do with your time.
One of the greatest but most important challenges is to remember why you got into baseball in the first place, and keep a perspective on it that minimizes the perception of threat.
Put your focus on your answers to this question: What's fun about baseball?
Tom Hanson, Ph.D.
Heads-Up Baseball
P.S. Nothing is more fun than feeling totally confident on the field. Get my FREE program “5 Steps to Unstoppable Confidence” at www.FreeBaseballConfidence.com